Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Enough is enough. For 50 years Lee Kuan Yew, the present Prime Minister's father had been bullying his Singaporean islanders by conveniently claiming it is necessary for nation building. And with that excuse which lasted no less than 50 years, he systematically turned the island into a mini version of Nazi Germany, denying freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of peaceful protest, imposing state control over the entire island's media and newspapers and turning it's judiciary into Kangaroos.

And while the convenient excuse of nation building was going on, he managed to be so corrupt as to his immense wealth look as if Bill Gates was just a pauper. He and his family was so corrupt, they had amassed more money than Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi and Mobutu of the diamond rich Congo all put together. Believe it or not, his salary was nothing short of $3.7 million a year and this is not counting even more millions he steals secretly. Not just him but his entire family including his sons, his daughter and all his relatives, both close and extended partake in the ongoing theft.

Realizing naturally that anyone with a head on his shoulders would probably complain at such blatant criminal corruption, he conveniently makes laws that make it completely illegal to criticize him or any of his family members and anyone who does is brought before his Kangaroo judges and instantly put away.

Since he was looking very silly and going on record as the dictator who ruled over his island nation even longer than Fidel Castro, so as not to embarrass himself in the world any further, he conveniently stepped down in 1990 and put a figurehead errand boy of his called Goh Chock Tong to pretend as Prime Minister till 2004 after which he appointed his son Lee Hsien Loong, whom he wanted to appoint to the post all along anyway, in 2004.

But even though he technically stepped down entirely for show, his minion Goh and his son were running around doing exactly what he did, which is, bullying anyone who disagrees. The most recent candidates for punishment are Roy Ngerng who criticized Lee's son for mismanagement of the state retirement funds. He is being sued for defamation, Lee's preferred tool for punishment. Amos Yee is the latest victim. He is 17 years old teenager. He made a video recently and posted it on line in which he called Lee Kuan Yew a horrible person and the target of many expletives which need not be mentioned. You see the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TZPdM3xn24

Lee Kuan Yew's son is deluding himself if he things he could continue behaving like a thug, the way his father did, going around beating up anyone who criticized. Singaporeans today are not the same as they were 50 years ago. Anyone who is educated today and has the bare minimum of common sense even for a Singaporean can realize that you simply cannot go around jailing and suing people just because they said something you did not like. It just doesn't make sense. And if it does not make sense to me, it does not make sense to most normal human beings.

And Lee Kuan Yew's law that says you cannot peacefully protest anywhere in the island except at a small secluded corner of downtown Singapore called Hong Lim Park, a patch of grass no more than 100 feet square, does not make sense to anyone, not even to a Singaporean. It does not make sense to an Australian, Englishman or even to an Hottentot in the Kalahari, South West Africa. So why should someone obey such a ridiculous law anywhere in the world, including Singapore.

You can put thieves, robbers, rapists and fraudsters in jail. Completely understandable. But you cannot put a man in jail who just peacefully holds a placard in downtown Singapore with the words "Down with the idiot son Lee Hsien Loong". And if he jails you for this, it is he who is looking bad, not you.

If you feel Lee Kuan Yew's son is simply a clueless person placed there by his father, like I do, you should protest now. He is so weakened now as is seen by the demonstrably overwhelming opposition to his rule in the Internet, it is quite clear he will not be able to arrest anyone for these clearly nonsensical laws and get away with it. After all how many is he going to arrest and jail, 20, 30 40, 50 all for peacefully protesting? If he was silly enough to actually arrest anyone for peaceful protest, the opposition against him would only become greater.

The days of Lee Kuan Yew's son bullying anyone are simply over. The sooner he realizes it the better.

Singaporeans should now come out and protest these unjust repressions such as suing Roy Ngerng or arresting Amos Yee. You should do the following:

1. Make T Shirts with slogans "Release Amos Yee" and "Stop suing Roy Ngerng" and other similar anti-Lee T shirts.

2. Organize peaceful protests either alone or in groups, not just in Speakers Corner but throughout the island demanding the release of 17 year old Amos Yee. I expect the government to deploy their thugs as agent provocateurs to provoke you into violence but remain calm and not fall for that trick. As there are more and more peaceful protests in the island, the dictatorship will be forced to release Amos Yee and stop persecuting Roy Ngerng.

3. Protesters should continue to demand democracy and the end of the dictatorship.

Remember, the Lee Kuan Yew dictatorship run by his son, simply will not give you democracy because you asked for it. Democracy in Singapore means this dictatorship can no longer continue to be corrupted as they are and take $3.7 million a year each, and they are never going to allow that. The only way you can achieve democracy is to force them to submit and the only way to do that is through street protests and civil disobedience.

If you want to see a freer and more democratic Singapore and not the dictatorship that has been going on for the last 50 years, you have to do something and do it now. And that something is street protests. Doing nothing and waiting for the next general elections would simply mean seeing the same old ways for another 50 years. Elections will not give you democracy, street protests will.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Update: 03/30/2015, the earlier YouTube link for Amos Yee's video was taken down. I found another one that works. Here it is.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lee Kuan Yew, the tyrant and dictator of Singapore island from 1959 till his death a few days ago had a disgraceful record of jailing and torturing those who disagreed with him including his victims Chia Thye Poh who spent 3 decades in jail, while JB Jeyaretnam was repeatedly sued through his famous tactic of defamation lawsuits, not to mention Chee Soon Juan and numerous others who faced a similar fate.

The name of Lee Kuan Yew will live in those who really know the history of the island among men such as Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Franco of Spain and Stalin of Russia. If there is any difference between him and any of these men, it is only a question of degree. In their cases, they actually shot their political opponents, whereas he didn't shoot them. Instead in Lee's case he imprisoned and tortured them. As to whether it is worse to jail a man for decades or to shoot him right away is a question I will leave you to decide.

Just as Stalin brought great economic success to Russia, just as Hitler brought great economic success to Germany under the Third Reich, so did the tyrant Lee Kuan Yew. But it begs the question whether whatever success at this price is worth the success at all? Was the success in Singapore through the imprisonment of an innocent man Chia Thye Poh for 31 years without any trial worth the economic success he claims?

Was the success Singapore has achieved through bankrupting Chee Soon Juan, denying him a job, sending him to jail when he is totally innocent, worth any success that he and his son enjoying the position of Prime Minister claim?

Singapore today thanks to Lee Kuan Yew is a mindless conformist ignorant society who have lost their ability to think independently. Because it is necessary to be politically correct at all times they willingly place this tyrant on a pedestal all because it is the only profitable and safe thing to do. In Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore today being politically incorrect, like I am, means you are attacked not only by the government who have to break your spirit, but also by the average citizen. It would also mean the denial of housing, your job, your security and victimization for the rest of your life.

But I don't want to be politically correct. For me it is important to speak my mind which I have done throughout my life including the time I spent in Lee Kuan Yew's island. I don't want to be another digit among these disgraceful conformists that Lee Kuan Yew and his son demands.

But other than me, there is another Singaporean presently within the island of the father and son who refuses to be another digit in Lee Kuan Yew's island. His name is Amos Yee and he his is 17. A few days ago, he put up a video titled "Amos Yee: Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead". You can see the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TZPdM3xn24

Lee Kuan Yew's Singaporeans like a pack of attack dogs obeying their master at his command, have in unison begun mindlessly attacking Amos Yee and demanding his lynching. Singapore police have arrested him on Sunday.

Why? Has he said anything that is not true? Is not Lee Kuan Yew a disgraceful dictator who jailed and silenced the entire clueless citizenry into obedience? Is he his family and his son not corrupt by paying or rather stealing $3.7 million a year each and calling it a salary? Is he not guilty of nepotism on an industrial scale, when he makes his clueless son Prime Minister and every one of his relatives both near and distant multi millionaires through open blatant shameless corruption? Has he not hijacked the courts and turned his judges into Kangaroos to serve his purpose and jail and bankrupt his critics?

If all that I said is true, why is Amos Yee guilty of anything? After all he has said exactly that and no more. And even if what I said is not true, does not Amos Yee have the right to freedom of expression? He has also attacked Jesus Christ. And why not if that is his belief? Is there a law in Singapore that everyone has to be a Christian?

Lee Kuan Yew's son who has been given the position of Prime Minister through his father's disgraceful nepotism is treading on thin ice by arresting Amos Yee. Today is not what Singapore was 20 years ago. The people are demanding their freedom. And persecuting Amos now for his individual beliefs may turn out the biggest mistake Lee's clueless son ever made. With increasing numbers of Singaporeans now becoming increasingly awakened over their rights, Amos Yee's arrest may well be a catalyst and trigger to even more citizens being outraged by Lee Kuan Yew and his son's excesses and thanks to Amos Yee may well turn out to be the birth of a nascent revolt. I hope it does.

Why don't they arrest me here in California, USA for categorically stating that Amos Yee was absolutely right because the recently deceased Lee Kuan Yew was indeed a ruthless disgraceful dictator. After all this blog is not only being read by Singaporeans in that island, it's popularity has been hitting through the roof. Just like Amos Yee, I want to tell Lee Kuan Yew's son to go ahead and sue me if he wants. And to use Amos Yee's language, I will be "happy to dance with him".

One can assume the only reason for this is nervousness on the part of the government of Lee Kuan Yew's son, fearing that his father's death might unleash island wide street protests.

But even if those anticipated street protests has not yet occurred, Singaporeans who want to protest the blaring injustices against them should know that the Singapore government under Lee Kuan Yew's son has greatly weakened after his death. Although the administration was completely lackluster and at time downright incompetent under his rule for the past decade, he has managed to stay in power only because his father was alive. Now since he is gone, anyone who has the interests of Singapore at heart will no longer prop up the son who is clearly lacking any leadership and competence whatsoever.

Remember once again that the right to peaceful protest is a universal human right and neither Lee Kuan Yew nor his son has the right to deny it.

One has seen increasing dissatisfaction and human rights activism in recent times despite the knowledge that they would invariably be arrested and harshly treated. Some months ago, 3 teenage students climbed aloft a government housing apartment block (HDB block) and wrote anti graffiti slogans. Although they were sure they would be arrested, it did not stop them from publicly showing their anger.

Also about the same time there were several instances of similar anti government graffiti. In all cases the activists knew they would be arrested, punished and even caned, but this did not stop them from doing what they felt they should rightfully do.

There were numerous computer hacking incidents where government department websites were hacked including that of Lee Kuan Yew's son the Prime Minister. They have all been arrested and are now facing charges. But despite the knowledge of certain arrest and harsh punishment, the people's anger against the government's arrogance was so great that they did it anyway.

Roy Ngerng, a young blogger was sued for defamation for alleging the Prime Minister's involvement in the massive mismanagement of state retirement funds (CPF). This action by Lee's son, rather than silencing the remaining citizens, the Internet has burgeoned with anti government articles which Lee Kuan Yew's son now finds too much to suppress. In fact lately, instead of suing any of them, he has now begun to simply ignore them. He is realizing that he is no longer the terror that he was with his father around.

Once again let me remind Singaporeans that Lee Kuan Yew son, the present dictator of Singapore like his father before him is not going to willingly restore your freedoms. If you want democracy, you have to grab it because no dictator would ever hand it to you in a plate. And you will not get democracy by simply writing Internet articles either. The only way you can get your freedom is through unrelenting public island wide peaceful protests.

There are many things you should protest about. You have blatant shameless corruption by the Lee family to the extent of $3.7 million a year each for every one of their family members and much more secretly. Then you have the shameless nepotism where Lee Kuan Yew makes his son Prime Minister and his son makes every single relative of his multi millionaires through cushy jobs and kickbacks.

Then there is the denial of your freedoms; no free speech expression or assembly and being treated as slaves with no rights whatsoever. Then you have the total absence of the rule of law and Kangaroo Courts.

And then you have the Malays and Indians being denied their equal rights, being denied housing, jobs and denied access to justice. Malays and Indians too should protest against this government for their rights.

I don't think Lee Kuan Yew's son can continue behaving in his dictatorial manner over his citizens as he did for the 10 years he was in control. In the past he managed this because his father was still alive. Now since his father is dead, and realizing that he doesn't instill confidence in anyone, not even among his political colleagues, the time has come to test his mettle.

I think it is most unlikely that he will have the courage to arrest any peaceful protester now since his father has gone because he knows that the law makes the denial of the right to peaceful protest unconstitutional and illegal. If he had run roughshod of the law in the past, he knows he can no longer do it now.

A weakened Lee's son who no longer has the support of even his own party members without his father, is in no position to intimidate anyone. And he knows that too.

Singaporeans should therefore take to the streets now in peaceful protests and reclaim their rights under the Constitution. If you do, you would be kicking this pansy son of Lee Kuan Yew full clear of his palace.

A self-described 'knuckle-duster' streetfighter, Lee's long rule was admired in Beijing

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of the late Lee Kuan Yew, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in 2014. Lee's Singapore was a model for much of what China tried to do these past 20 years. (Reuters)

About The Author

Patrick BrownEye on Asia

Former CBC correspondent Patrick Brown has reported from world capitals and dusty backwaters for over 30 years, with a particular emphasis on Asia, having been based at different times in Bangkok, Delhi and, most recently, Beijing. He now splits his time between Canada and China as an independent documentary-maker. Follow Patrick Brown on Twitter: @truthfromfacts

Among all the tributes to Lee Kuan Yew as a "statesman" and "visionary," nothing quite captured theessence of the late leader of Singapore as a remark he made about himself in 1994.

"Nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac," he said. "If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try."

Admitting in his somewhat quaint Cambridge English that he was a ruthless political street-fighter, Lee went on to say something even more revealing: "There is no other way to govern a Chinese society."

To prove the point, Lee was admired nowhere more than in Beijing, where the Communist Party shared his conviction that Chinese society is somehow so uniquely pesky as to require an iron fist.

Throughout his dominance of Singapore for almost 50 years, China's leaders were mesmerized by Lee's ability not only to run an efficient authoritarian one-party state, but his finesse in making that respectable in Western capitals with a confection of Confucian ideas and what he called "Asian values."

As Deng Xiaoping was launching the dramatic economic changes that rescued China from the catastrophic misrule of Mao Zedong, he was impressed by what was being called the "Singapore model" during a visit to the city-state in 1978.

Later, in 1992, jump-starting the frenetic Chinese development that continues to this day, Deng reassured hardline colleagues who feared losing control by pointing again to Singapore.

"The social order in Singapore is quite good," he said, "They run things strictly, and we should borrow from their experiences, and run things even better than they do."

No gum chewing

Of course the tens of thousands of Chinese officials who have been sent to study Singapore in the past 20 or so years are aware that the place is smaller than a city district in Beijing, and that many of the things that make it work cannot conceivably be replicated in the vastness of the Chinese mainland.

Still, it is the idea of Singapore, more than the reality, that resonates.

Although Lee was a devout anti-communist, the structures of his People's Action Party and the Communist Party of China are almost identical because both were based on Lenin's Vanguard Party as vehicles to gain power, stay in power and decide everything.

They share the autocratic instinct to order the minutest details of peoples' lives.

Chewing-gum is famously banned in Singapore, and there are fines for not flushing a public toilet.

Move over to China and this month alone there have been edicts from Beijing ordering that the characters in video role-playing games must obey the country's single-child policy; and that the public dancing that is a favorite form of exercise for elderly Chinese "will no longer vary from community to community but will instead become a nationally unified, scientifically arranged all-new activity that brings positive energy to the people."

The party even extended its grip to the afterlife. When the Dalai Lama mused that he might not reincarnate after his death, Beijing ruled that would be illegal, ordering him to reincarnate, or else.

In Singapore, Lee locked up opponents without trial, and used the courts to bankrupt critics and defamation suits to bully the international press into silence.

In 1994, the New York Times issued a groveling apology to avoid colossal damages after suggesting that the Lee family was one of Asia's political dynasties.

Lee had insisted that his son became prime minister, which he is still, and his daughter-in-law head of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund not through nepotism, but because they just happened to be the best candidates.

Publications that do not have local offices to sue have been braver, describing Singapore as "Disneyland with the death penalty" and "Pyongyang with broadband."

But for all his authoritarian ways, Lee was not murderous, was not an egomaniac and he does not make it to the major leagues of dictatorship where cruelty and kleptomania abounds.

Gift of prosperity

Lee's extraordinary economic legacy is not in doubt. As Prime Minister Steven Harper put it: "His memory will live on in the stability and prosperity of the peaceful and dynamic Southeast Asian nation to which he contributed so much of his life."

Canadian politicians can only dream of being as popular as Lee was in Singapore.

Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew turned Singapore into a global financial powerhouse, but ruled with an iron fist and sometimes, he said, a set of "knuckle-dusters." (Reuters)

Of course they might be if Canadians' incomes had increased by almost 10,000 per cent in 50 years. The average income in Singapore, $500 a year in 1965, is more than $50,000 today.

In my view, Lee would have been re-elected time after time, had he not indulged his arrogant and vindictive streak.

In fact, the truly negative side of his legacy is his contempt for his fellow Chinese.

Lee's assertion that "there is no other way to govern a Chinese society" is simply another way of saying that Chinese people do not deserve the same human rights as others, that they are unworthy of democracy.

Such ideas may be popular in Beijing, but they are hardly visionary or statesmanlike.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

True, Lee Kuan Yew built the skyscrapers the roads and provided clean running water. There is no doubt he brought in huge planeloads of immigrants, mainly Chinese, and some Europeans who provided jobs for the locals. It is also true that he managed to raise the GDP of the island to record levels unprecedented anywhere else in the world.

All very good. But there are fundamental faults so blatantly obvious in his system that it is impossible to endure after him. The Lee Kuan Yew model is simply a one-off system only good for someone like him. It is quite obviously simply impossible for anyone else to carry on like this. This is why.

Small Tiny Island totally reliant on foreign capital
The island is physically tiny, about 700 sq kilometers and a few kilometers less at high tide. The local population (not counting the huge barrage of recently arrived Chinese immigrants) is perhaps only about 1.5 million.

You can imagine what even the slightest economic or political instability will do to a place as tiny as this. Even worse, as the island is almost totally reliant on foreign investment, once the the foreign investment leaves, which they will at the slightest instability, so does the locals leave and then it is the end for Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore. There will be nothing left. A larger country not entirely dependent on foreign investment can withstand a great deal of instability. But not this tiny island.

The Lee family's blatant shameless corruption and nepotism
It is well known by now what Lee Kuan Yew paid himself, his son the Prime Minister, Loong, their entire family and his entire government. In fact the salaries they receive have now become the butt of jokes and the target of ridicule around the world.

These are salaries that would have made Mobutu of the Congo who stole the diamonds look like a saint. Let me say this once again. Lee Kuan Yew, his son and his entire family pay themselves and their cronies no less than $3.7 million a year. And in order to justify the corruption, he conveniently calls it a salary, as if corruption will turn legitimate simply by labelling it, salary.

And then we have shameless nepotism. Every single member of his family are provided plush jobs and everlasting opulence. I thought this sort of thing only happens in the kingdoms of the Middle East where Hafiz al Assad makes his son Bashar al Assad the president with permission to steal any amount of state funds he wants but I was mistaken. It happens in the former British Colony of Singapore too.

The people have no rights
Although the Constitution exists on paper, it is completely abrogated and disregarded. The island is run on a whim, Lee Kuan Yew's whim to be exact.

There are no rights of freedom of speech, expression assembly or a free press. Neither is there the rule of law where Kangaroo courts routinely destroy opposition politicians for criticism considered normal anywhere else in the world. Effectively with the Kangaroo courts and their obedient police force, they can effectively silence anyone they please giving themselves carte blanch to frolic as they want.

It has become a Chinese City with Malays and Indians relegated to irrelevance
Unlike the British days and the times immediately thereafter, all Singaporeans regardless of race were still Singaporeans. Today you are hardly Singaporean if you are not ethnic Chinese. They are openly discriminated in jobs and housing and they have no recourse to the law, since none exist. In fact they can hardly understand what is being said as Mandarin is actually spoken more often than English.

Strutting around the island like a prize rooster in his Singapore chicken coop
Having had the reputation of fighting the Communists, fighting the British, going into Malaysia, coming out of Malaysia, fighting the economic depression and having done the whole hula hoop, Lee Kuan Yew had quite a reputation, nobody can deny that.

He had stature. He told Singaporeans that he had to control them, or else they would be put away. Out of fear and especially out of who he was, they went along. As a result Lee Kuan Yew was able to be as corrupt as he wants, as guilty of nepotism as he wants, and able to deny every single right of his people, as he wants. Somehow he managed to get away with it.

Goh Chock Tong and Loong, his son
He stepped down in 1990 and gave the Prime Minister-ship to Goh Chock Tong who was a seat warmer for his son Lee Hsien Loong (Loong) who replaced Goh in 2004. Mind you, both Goh and Loong were behaving as dictators exactly like the earlier Lee but they got away with it, primarily because Lee Kuan Yew, even though no longer active, was still alive. His presence alone was sufficient to intimidate the population into submission.

But now since Lee Kuan Yew is dead, can Loong strut around like his father bullying anyone in his way?
That is the big question, can Loong behave the same way as his illustrious dictatorial father? What is Loong anyway? He as we know him is simply an obedient boy who passed his exams, and through nepotism was given a government scholarship, studied in England and returned to Singapore to be made Prime Minister by his father.

That is the sum total of his curriculum vitae. Loong did not fight the Communists, did not move the mountains nor did he tame the monster. Thanks to his father he is where he is, that's all. If it wasn't for his father, he would probably be filing away invoices at his desk at the Bank of China along Singapore's Battery Road.

So is he now going to pay himself $3.7 million a year and hand out the same to all his family members and minions as he did in the past?

Is he going to deny the Constitutional rights of free speech to his people. Is he going to jail Roy Ngerng for having questioned his CPF (retirement fund) policies? Is he going to deploy his turbaned Indian lawyer to sue people all and sundry because he did not like what they said? Is he still going to deploy the corrupt judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean to put away political contrarians like his father did? Who the Hell is he anyway, but an obedient boy who passed his exams? Why should anyone listen to him? Why should he pay himself $3.7 million a year, now especially since his father is dead?

This is where the rub is
The problem for the poor boy Loong is this. He is simply trapped. He is doomed either way he turns. And this is entirely because Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore model simply made no sense.

1. It is illogical and nonsensical for anyone to expect any society to remain quiet when they see corruption of their leaders especially on this grand scale before their very eyes.
2. It is illogical and nonsensical to assume that any society will remain quiet when they are denied their right of freedom of expression.
3. It is illogical to assume that any society would remain quiet when they are denied freedom of the press or the rule of law.
4. It is illogical to assume that the Malays and Indians will simply allow themselves to be discriminated in their own country.

Already in the last few years Singapore has seen increasing signs of dissent. There have been numerous instances of anti government graffiti, numerous instances of anti- government protests in Speakers Corner the only place allowed for protests and other instances of anti government sentiment. In spite of the government cracking down hard, the frequency of such incidents are only growing. Now with a weakened Loong minus his father, we can only expect the protests to multiply multi-fold.

Loong is simply trapped either way he turns. If he decides not to be corrupt and accept a lesser salary, people will consider him weak, he will lose face, a terrible thing for Chinese, and his already precarious authority. On the other hand if he continues being corrupt and continues stealing $3.7 million a year, the people would be no longer afraid to rise since his father is no longer around.

He faces the same Catch 22 situation with every thing else, heads I win tails you lose. If he tries to loosen his grip he loses face and the people would take advantage. If he doesn't, without his father around the people would rise. The poor Loong is simply trapped.

On the other hand, if he tries to step down and hand over the leadership to some other minion foolish enough to accept it, it will be even worse. He would be probably overthrown the next minute.

Singapore Iraq or Libya.
Singapore will face the same problems that dictatorships such as Iraq or Libya faced, only on lesser scale and minus the violence. With Saddam the dictator in power, Iraq managed to survive. Same with the Libya of Gaddafi. Once they were gone, you see total chaos because no one else is able to fill the vacuum left by the dictator.

Singapore is no different. Lee Kuan Yew did not leave in place a civil society.

There are no real political parties except for his own, which has handpicked bureaucrats running the country, not real leaders since the dead Lee never tolerated anyone else as leader. None of these minions who call themselves Ministers and politicians have any support on the ground.

They are all, what one can call instant politicians and Ministers. The moment they return from their scholarships, they are fielded in elections under circumstances where they can never lose and the next minute thrust among the people as "leaders". Most don't give them even a second look at their faces in the state controlled press.

Conclusion
There is simply no way this Alice in Wonderland style of government the deceased Lee Kuan Yew created can ever be transferred beyond him. His son simply cannot behave the way he did and neither can any of his minions. Once the people begin to disrespect him, the ethnic Chinese prince would have lost his face as well as his moral authority to rule. And there is an old Chinese saying "When man loose face, he has to go".

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

There is something inherently wrong with the Lee Kuan Yew model of government. One look at it tells you it is not sustainable nor durable beyond him. Now since he is dead, the island is headed into political chaos and uncertainty. Large countries with large populations and economies can withstand such upsets and may recover. But for Singapore which is almost totally reliant on foreign capital for jobs and business, I see very little chance of this.

These are the reasons why.

For any country which wishes smooth and seamless change of governments, you first need the most obvious thing. This is a respect by the people for their leaders and a belief that their leaders are there to protect the interests of their people.

In Singapore, most ruling Ministers are not leaders of anyone. Very often they were not even elected. They are just scholars who have been handpicked to rule over the people. Just like the Ming Emperor did. But it was all right for the Ming Emperor to do this. But Loong, Lee Kuan Yew's son cannot do this in 21st Centaury Singapore. It will not work.

Moreover unfortunately this mutual respect between the people and their citizenry does not exist in the island. Firstly you have a government that is openly corrupt by paying themselves millions in salaries and kickbacks, $3.7 million annually each to be exact. You also have shameless nepotism from the Lee family giving their friends and relatives jobs and money to the former President SR Nathan who is equally corrupt and steals millions and gives cushy jobs to his children and relatives. This is what one would call unashamed nepotism and corruption.

Although the people can see this unapologetic corruption and nepotism by their leaders before their very eyes, there is nothing they can do because Lee Kuan Yew will sue anyone in his Kangaroo courts if you said anything. Singaporeans have no respect for their legal system because their judges are equally corrupt by misusing their judicial office to destroy his political opponents.

In addition you have the secrecy of the island's wealth funds where many Singaporeans believe that their money is being systemically stolen by Lee Kuan Yew who has since died and now by his family, particularly his son who is the Prime Minister. But the people are not allowed to mention any of this because if you do, you will be sued and destroyed.

In Singapore therefore Lee Kuan Yew has put a system in place where common sense tells you the system is corrupt but yet, you are not allowed to complain because the Kangaroo courts will get you and destroy you. There is no respect by the people for their government, but the government gets away with it because the island people are intimidated and afraid to take a stand.

So far while Lee Kuan Yew was alive, given his jailing of his opponents like Chia Thye Poh for decades, the people were simply afraid and accepted such a life.

But now we have the son, who does not have the stature or authority of his father. In fact most Singaporeans have no respect for the son at all, since they consider his only qualification as being his father's son.

But for the son of Lee Kuan Yew, Loong to continue in power he is forced to continue doing the same as what his father did, in other words he has to instill fear in his people to prevent them from complaining about his corruption, his nepotism and his abuser of authority. And this is what he is going to find difficult to do.

It is no longer possible for him to strut around the island like a dictator as his father, because he does not have the authority of his father. Secondly it is not natural for any leader to expect his people to obey him when he is clearly misusing his authority, like Lee's son Loong is doing.

It is obvious that it is easier for a leader doing the right things for his people with a moral authority to rule and harder for someone who is clearly abusing his peoples rights with repressive measures. It is going to be difficult for Loong, Lee Kuan Yew son to demand his people's support while at the same time denying human rights, being unashamedly corrupt to the tune of millions and using the law courts to deny his people's legitimate interests.

On the other hand even if Loong decided to ease the repression and stop being corrupt, this will still be the end of him because if he allowed free speech and peaceful protests, people will begin to openly criticize him which will result in his being unseated him from power almost immediately.

So for poor Loong without his father it is simply Hobson's Choice or Tails you lose and heads I win. If Loong decides to continue like his father, there will be protests in the street. If he decides to give his people freedom, he will be discredited and lose his moral authority to rule.

With the scenario being bad as it is, the next question is whether there is anyone or any organization is able to take over. Unfortunately for Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew made sure that no real leader is ever allowed to take root in the island, because he was afraid he may be unseated. So from the late JB Jeyaretnam to every other possible leader were all destroyed through the Kangaroo courts leaving no one except perhaps Chee Soon Juan left with any credibility, authority, leadership and experience.

Very soon, since Loong has no choice but to continue as his father with an iron hand, the people are not going to respect him, and not respecting him, they will take to the streets. A weakened Loong will find himself unable to arrest any protester, because it will only lead to more agitation, and not doing so will only encourage even more protesters. This will lead to even more civil unrest and instability.

With a large sector of the economy reliant totally on foreign investment, you will see an outflow of capital of these foreigners. It is obvious why they have invested in a tiny island like this, because they want stability and a good return on their investment. If there is instability they have no desire to risk their investment in such a tiny island without any hope for future long term political stability.

With foreign investors leaving, so will the locals with their money. A tiny island such as this with a tiny population so reliant on foreign investment simply does not have the ballast to withstand even a tiny storm. As there is no real political leadership in the island able to take the reins and command the respect of the citizenry, I am afraid this island is heading towards both political and economic collapse.

In the end the only legacy that Lee Kuan Yew would have left would be empty skyscrapers and a leaderless clueless society of people not knowing which way to turn.

True, Lee Kuan Yew has built a concrete shining glittering glass city of skyscrapers. He has welcomed all and sundry foreigners and turned it into another Dubai where they come and they make money, and in the process, they give some jobs to locals. All very fine. But what has he done to his people? He has turned them into a people consumed with fear, not knowing what will happen next, if they said anything out of line with Lee's politically correct philosophy. He has turned Singaporeans into a people devoid of character, convictions, principles or courage. He has turned them into dumb sheep.

In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, his sons and his Ministers pay themselves each millions of dollars, $3.7 million to be exact, which he calls a salary. This is the height of corruption. Any other normal human being anywhere in the world would object to this. After all it is taxpayers money which they are stealing. But the average Singaporean has no objection to this corruption by their leaders. They do complain in the Internet always disguised under nicknames so as not to reveal real their identities. They behave in this manner because they are afraid of what will happen to them if they identified themselves. In the meantime, the former Lee Kuan Yew, his son and every one of their friends continue the theft with impunity. Lee Kuan Yew has so successfully made them so fearful, that they have become paralyzed with fear and incapable of complaining as any normal human would.

In Singapore the Constitution which is supposed to guarantee the people their rights is totally ignored. The laws that guarantee free speech, expression and assembly which one would expect in any other country are all denied. Today you are not allowed to make a speech in public unless you have a permit. And if you did apply for a permit, it is always denied. It is always a one sentence letter that they send you "Your application has been carefully considered but it is denied"

No right to protest peacefully in public and no rights whatsoever that any other normal human being would have taken for granted anywhere else in the free world. In any other country the normal human being would have protested and be up in arms to demand their Constitutional rights. But not in Singapore. The people are afraid. They are incapable of standing up to what they consider their rights which belongs to them. Lee Kuan Yew has turned the people into sheep, numbed into obedience regardless of what Lee Kuan Yew does to them.

In Singapore, there is no free press. The entire island's media is controlled by the state and independent news is illegal. This is a violation of the Constitution which guarantees a free press. The people know this. They are aware that the government is denying their rights to a free and independent press under the law. In any other country, the people would have come out in open protest and cried foul and demanded their right to a free press. But in Singapore, the people are afraid. Lee Kuan Yew has so successfully subjugated and intimidated them that they have lost the courage to demand it. They can only suffer in silence and simply accept.

In Singapore there is no rule of law. In font of their very eyes they have seen the late JB Jeyaretnam, opposition politician being repeatedly persecuted through false charges of defamation and destroyed in Lee Kuan Yew's Kangaroo Courts. To a man they know that JB Jeyaretnam did no wrong. To a man they know that the law is being misused before their very eyes. In any other country the people would have come out in throngs and cried foul and demanded justice for JB Jeyaretnam. But not in Singapore. The people have lost all their spirit and beliefs of right and wrong. They are terrified of Lee Kuan Yew. So they simply accept in silence while Jeyaretnam is repeatedly bankrupted, jailed and destroyed. A decent human being anywhere else would have come to the aid of a man being mistreated. But in Singapore their all consuming fear prevents him from acting honorably.

It is the same scenario for all the victims of Lee Kuan Yew including Chee Soon Juan, Tang Liang Hong and every other opposition politician. In my case they sent me to jail in 2008 while on a brief trip to the island, for writing a blog criticizing his judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who shamelessly destroyed Chee Soon Juan to please Lee Kuan Yew. But nobody came to help me. There were no demonstrations in the streets of Singapore in my support. Singaporeans couldn't care less if their fellow citizens or human beings was being abused by the all powerful Lee Kuan Yew before their very eyes. They are afraid to do or say anything because of what might happen to them if they did. They are paralyzed with fear.

Lee Kuan Yew has turned the island into another Nazi Germany. Like under Hitler, Singaporeans know that to succeed in life, they have to support Lee Kuan Yew and his policies. Even if they personally disagree with his corruption on an industrial scale of $3.7 million a year each, or their denying human rights or their denying the rule of law or anything else they may think wrong, in order to live a quiet life and succeed they have to pretend that Lee Kuan Yew is best. They have to pretend that it is all right for Lee and his friends to be as corrupt as they want. And they have to pretend as if rule of law exists after all even if they can see before their very eyes that it doesn't.

Lee Kuan Yew has successfully turned himself into a cult figure in his small island, something like a Charles Manson or a Jim Jones who was able to extract unconditional loyalty from his congregation no matter how outrageous his actions are. He has managed to brainwash an entire island into complete and total obedience. To Singaporeans Lee Kuan Yew has turned into some kind of a God incapable of doing any wrong. It is OK for him to steal millions, it is OK for him to deny human rights, it is OK for him to abuse the courts, in fact it is OK for him to do anything he wants. In fact I don't think the average Singaporean would have minded if Lee Kuan Yew raped his wife or daughter. In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew can do anything and everything he wants. After all he is Lee Kuan Yew. He is above the law. He is God.

Lee Kuan Yew has managed to successfully change human thought process in his people and has managed to brand honest upright individuals as criminals while crooks and fraudsters are labelled model citizens. JB Jeyaretanm was an honest man, a fighter for his people. Although he fought for freedom and the people's rights, Lee Kuan Yew successfully labeled him a criminal and a cheat.

Today not many in Singapore give Jeyaretnam credit and many in fact have not even heard of him because Lee has managed to successfully black his name out from the state controlled press. Whereas Lee Kuan Yew who is openly corrupt and gives money and jobs to his relatives and cronies is called a great leader an a model citizen. In fact the concept of greatness and honor have been successfully skewed to make corrupt leaders like Lee Kuan Yew model citizens and martyrs like JB Jeyaretnam crooks.

There is no advantage to have glittering skyscrapers but yet have a complete society of people who have no sense of right from wrong, no ability to stand up to the truth, no spine, no courage, no honor, character or principles but the ability only to follow any leader however ruthless or corrupt as long as there is profit in it.

When I grew up in the island as a kid, Singaporeans had some spine, some character, some principles, some courage. Thanks to Lee Kuan Yew, for the sake of survival and the all consuming fear, they have lost all these ideals. Today the Singaporean is simply a spineless unscrupulous character, with no sense of honor, no sense of right from wrong, so long as he is safe and able to live his life unmolested by Lee Kuan Yew or his son. This is the sad legacy that Lee Kuan Yew has left, the same man who is placed on a pedestal, not only by locals but by leaders around the world as a great leader of this world, like a God

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, 91 years old, who ran the island from 1959 mainly by himself, never mind any Parliament, and later through the proxy of his handpicked Goh Chock Tong and later still of his own son, smacking of nepotism, has just died leaving his son wondering what to do next, poor fellow.

If the son has managed to strut around the tiny island so far as the Prime Minister, it is only because others feared the fact that his father Lee Kuan Yew was around, no more no less.

It is true that within a span of just 50 years, Lee Kuan Yew has managed to transform the island from just another South East Asian sea port into a bustling metropolis replete with towering skyscrapers, and managed to invite large numbers of foreign companies to do business there. As a result he has managed to provide jobs not only for the tiny population of Singaporeans but also the huge influx of foreigners who came because they couldn't find jobs in their own countries.

As for the bustling skyscrapers, now since Lee Kuan Yew is dead, we will know very soon whether will be termed into empty towers with no one in them.

All very good so far. But the big question is, does all this have any durability beyond Lee Kuan Yew himself? Will there be stability henceforth and will the foreigners who have come seeking profit remain in the island, now since he has gone?

From, what I know of Singapore, which is as good as anyone else, having been born there, educated there and imprisoned by Lee for questioning the impartiality of his Kangaroo judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean who sent one of his critics, Chee Soon Juan, to jail and bankrupted him through the ever dreaded defamation lawsuit, Singapore has no chance of continuing the way it has with Lee Kuan Yew.

This is why.

Skyscrapers and foreign investors are all very fine. But what a country needs is a civil society of institutions that will endure beyond any dictator, which Lee was undoubtedly one. You need the rule of law, you need a government that the people respect, you need leaders that are not corrupt and beyond all this, most importantly you need a Constitution which protects the people's rights. Absent these fundamental foundations, no country can expect to remain stable and united, least of all a tiny island such as this with a tiny population totally reliant on foreign capital.

Unfortunately for the people of Singapore, despite all that Lee Kuan Yew had done in building the skyscrapers and the economy, he failed to realize the need for stable civil institutions to take the island from his government to the next.

Singapore does not have the rule of law, the government has amply and repeatedly made this known since 1970s. The law is used by the government as a political tool to silence dissent and the people know this very well as has been the case beginning with JB Jeyaretnam, a late opposition politician who was repeatedly sued, jailed and driven into bankruptcy until he died in 2008. And then we have Chee Soon Juan another of his critics who has suffered the same fate, once holding a highly respective and well paid career as a university professor but now reduced to hawking his books on the street to make a living.

And then we have Tang Liang Hong, a multi millionaire lawyer who was driven into exile to avoid arrest and torture because he questioned the corruption of Lee Kuan Yew and his family when they were given discounts by a developer of a property called Jade Mansions. Even I was arrested and jailed in 2008 when I was briefly in Singapore as a result of a blog I wrote criticizing the same judge Belinda Ang Saw Ean for misusing her judicial office to please Lee Kuan Yew by sending his critic Chee to jail and bankruptcy.

There is no question that the people of Singapore have no faith in their judiciary. They live in fear of the government, and are fully aware that they can be put away any time through the Kangaroo Courts.

The average Singaporean has no faith in their government. Firstly they consider each and every government politician from Lee Kuan Yew's son, the Prime Minister and every single cabinet minister thoroughly corrupt to the core. In fact they are so corrupt they would have put Mobutu of the Congo to shame. If you did not know, Lee Kuan Yew's son, and Lee Kuan Yew himself throughout his life and every single minister in government receives a salary of no less than $3.7 million a year. This is not all they take. In addition every year they pay themselves as much as 6 or even 7 months salary in bonuses. In other words each and every one of these ministers pay themselves millions. They are the highest paid politicians in the world.

There is a word for this and it is called corruption. But the problem is, the moment you accuse them of corruption, in comes the Kangaroo Courts and you are either jailed or bankrupted. As a result, through fear, it is literally taboo to use this word.

Secondly there is absolutely no transparency in government. Unlike in democracies where policies are debated before implementation, they simply decide and publish it the next day in the state controlled press. By the way all newspapers and the entire press is state controlled. As a result the people live in fear of the Kangaroo courts and simply accept anything thrown at them.

Although in paper there is such a document as the Constitution, in reality it is totally ignored. There is no freedom of speech because the article in the Constitution which guarantees it carries a rider that a government license is required for speaking.

There is no freedom of assembly in the same fashion. There is no right of peaceful protest in the same fashion and the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act requires all newspapers to be licensed and controlled by the government.

Elections are a farce. What happens is this. Scholars who have been sent abroad to study in Western Universities are co-opted into the government upon return, and fielded at elections under circumstances where it is impossible for them to lose, because the residents are threatened to vote for them and other dirty tactics such as suing them for defamation in the Kangaroo courts.

After they have won they are immediately made ministers with a commission to not only make laws but to pontificate over you. The problem is, these men have no moral or in fact legal authority to rule over you. Firstly you never voted for them because the elections were rigged and secondly they are no leaders by any stretch of the imagination, their only qualification is having passed their school exams.

Question is what happens now. Their style of governance so far has been for Lee Kuan Yew's son to tell his people what to do through their state controlled newspapers and television; and the people are expected to obey. So far they have accepted it firstly through fear and secondly because his father was alive. But in truth he, the son, does not instill confidence in anyone, not even among his own party members. If they have listened to him so far, it can only be attributed to his father's presence. With his father dead, I doubt whether anyone is going to pay any attention to him.

And then you have the equally disgusting bootlickers appointed Ministers, every one of them being paid millions. The people know they serve him only because of the millions and have no interest in politics were it not for the money.

In other words what Loong (Lee Kuan Yew's son) and his ministers lack is credibility. And without credibility it is hard for them to have their way. The days when you could simply intimidate your way through is long gone.

If Lee Kuan Yew's son and his ministers are going to carry on the same what they did by treating their people as irrelevant and simply telling them what to do, I suspect this sort of thing is not going to work anymore. It may have worked while Lee Kuan Yew is alive but now that he is no more, it is unlikely that the people will take this lying down.

So what is the looming scenario? The people are going to demand their CPF since for most Singaporeans this and their government-owned 99 year lease apartments are their only asset. If the government refuses to pay now, the people may openly protest and if the government responds the only way they know with force, then the situation will become ugly and there would be mass protests and demonstrations. They could also demonstrations against racial discrimination against the Malays and Indians, against the unlimited entry of immigrants and the lack of Constitutional rights.

There may also be mass exodus of migration abroad for settlement.

If there is going to be instability, there will be mass outflow of capital by foreign companies. When that happens the Singapore dollar will collapse followed by the collapse of the entire economy.

The reason for this gloomy prospect is because there are no civil institutions in place that can allow for smooth transition from one government to another. The people have no respect for their government institutions just as the government treats their people as cattle.

Singapore is an island ruled by fear, not through mutual respect where the ministers live in opulence with million dollar salaries while nearly half the population who live in the one and two room apartments live below the poverty line.

The most likely scenario now is the people demanding their CPF (retirement funds) now because they have no faith that the government will honor their promise to pay. If they refuse there is likely to be island wide instability and chaos.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Not knowing what will happen to secretive tiny Singapore after Lee Kuan Yew's demise, who is now in hospital under life support battling for his life and ready to go any minute, a city state totally reliant on foreign labor, capital and industry, the high end property market and the Singapore dollar have taken the lead in the downward slide of its economy.

The island economy has already begun to take a beating on news of Lee Kuan Yew's being hospitalized under life support and terminally ill. From now on, the economy will continue its slide and once news of his death is announced, it will collapse entirely. The New York Times report as far back as Feb 17, 2015 titled "A high end property collapse in Singapore" reports

"But signs of a slowdown are just beneath the shiny surface. The grass on front lawns has turned brown from neglect. Two condominiums last summer went for less than half their original price, while others sit empty." See report here http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/realestate/a-high-end-property-collapse-in-singapore.html. It seems in Sentosa Cove million dollar apartments are lying empty and the grass has turned brown with neglect. There is simply no one there.

"The currency of Asia’s highest-rated nation reflects a level of economic anxiety not seen since the region’s financial crisis almost two decades ago. Singapore’s dollar is headed for a third straight quarterly loss versus its U.S. counterpart, and surging forward rates imply that the currency will depreciate at the fastest clip since 1998"

In other words the Singapore dollar, if you don't act fast enough, will be worthless.

This sort of economic turmoil and uncertainty is characteristic of all dictatorships when they fall. The island is no different from any other banana republic that you see anywhere else, with one man running the whole show willy nilly as if the whole place belongs to him. In Singapore island's case the dictator was Lee Kuan Yew who ran the island for 50 years as if it was his fiefdom.

During this time, the people have no rights, the Constitutional rights were abrogated, the judges were turned into Kangaroos, and anyone can be put away by the flick of his finger.

And now his son Loong, the Prime Minister whom he appointed is doing the same.

And as is usual for all dictatorships, there is a veil of secrecy where people are kept in the dark about everything and anything thanks to the monopoly of a state controlled media, not knowing who and what will happen next.

Although this slavish life would have been unacceptable for any freedom loving man, it is paradise for offshore companies doing business in the island and repatriating every penny they made back home from where they came. As for the local citizen, he knew nothing except that he has to slog his life out for the foreign enterprises for the pennies he gets.

And disgraceful judges like Belinda Ang Saw Ean are very willing to prostitute herself and her office to destroy Lee Kuan Yew's political opponents for a very lavish lifestyle.

But Singaporeans and foreigners should have known that such prosperity can only last as long as the dictator is around. Once the dictator goes, as is the case now, no one knows who why and what will happen next in the island.

And it is this uncertainty that foreign investors are averse to. And it is they who will pull out at the first signs of instability.

Is the ruling party going to split into 2 groups?

Will anyone respect any new political aspirant who claims leadership?

Since there are no real leaders in the island except for Lee Kuan Yew himself will anyone else be able to command respect and authority to rule?

Would simply announcing the new leaders in the state controlled press tomorrow be enough to give them legitimacy?

Will there be chaos after that?

Will the Malays who have been discriminated and suppressed for so long, become violent and try to reclaim their country?

Will the Indians do the same?

Will the Indians and Malays join forces and attack the Chinese majority?

And once there is instability, which will very likely happen once Lee Kuan Yew dies, will foreigners leave the island en masse with themselves and their capital?

And when that happens what will happen to the local Singaporeans?

Singaporeans should brace themselves for more bad news. If it is the high end property market that collapses today, tomorrow it will be the HDB (government housing) flats that will collapse in value.

After that the CPF retirement funds will start their slide downwards and collapse entirely.

I am watching the Singapore economy news daily. If Lee Kuan Yew is not out of his coma and life support and walks away from his hospital bed on his own two feet, which unfortunately is not likely to happen, the other sections of the economy will begin to slide and slide even further. And so will go the island itself.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

To many Singaporeans the reported "critically ill" Lee Kuan Yew on life support is actually already dead, regardless what the island's state controlled papers say. Many believe that he died as far back as weeks ago. And can anyone fault them in believing this?

The Singapore media is simply government news, or put in another way, news that the government wants you to know. It is reported to have less press freedom than Somalia by the respected Reporters Without borders who have placed it at the bottom of international press rankings. To say that it has lost all credibility is an understatement. It is Pravda and Izvestia combined of the former Soviet Union reporting that Soviet grain production has increased 10 fold when in fact the entire industry has just collapsed.

Under Singapore's Newspapers and Printing Presses Act, the entire media in the island is controlled by Lee Kuan Yew, his son the Prime Minister and their Peoples Action Party which controls everything and everybody in that tiny island with a tiny population.

So when Singaporeans distrust every single bit of rubbish written in those pages, can anyone blame them from drawing their own conclusions? And in response, this increasingly insecure government does the only thing it has known for the last 50 years, mainly under the father Lee and now under the son Loong, which is, arrest and prosecute anyone who says anything they do not like.

According to this report, someone had copied Loong's (Lee Hsien Loong, Lee's son) Prime Minister's official website on the Internet and stated Lee Kuan Yew had already died. Outraged that this individual is not buying the government official line that Lee Kuan Yew is still alive, they have commenced a police investigation to apprehend and prosecute him.

Their anger at this citizen can be seen in the report of the Assistant Police Commissioner here:

“We take a very stern view against anyone who doctors a government website to spread false information to deceive the public. We will spare no effort to bring them to task. We also advise the public not to spread falsehoods,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Melvin Yong, the director of the police public affairs department.

In the circumstances where the island of Singapore has been placed below Somalia for international press freedom rankings by the respected Reporters Without Borders and where the entire media is state controlled as it is in North Korea and where these disgraceful pages are used by this one party police state to defame and discredit honest decent citizens who oppose the regime, it is perfectly understandable that people believe whatever they want to believe, which in many circles is that Lee Kuan Yew is already dead.

Instead of threatening and flexing their muscles to bully their own citizens for views that they understandably possess in the circumstances, this one party police state of Loong and company should put their own house in order, and restore credibility in their press before they go around arresting and jailing innocent citizens.

I myself am not convinced by these reports put out in these state controlled press. Really I don't know what to believe.

Many of my contacts in the island have told me he died as far back as 2 weeks ago and was secretly taken out from the hospital in the middle of the night at 2 am in an unmarked lorry and privately cremated in a secret location and his ashes dumped in the Kallang River, at downtown Singapore after the entire vicinity was cordoned off to keep onlookers out.

Perhaps he is already dead, perhaps not, who knows, in this one party police state with only the Singapore version of the Stalinist Pravda and Izvestia.

Very impressive but a more careful look raises serious doubts. The article is based on a finding by an organization called International Financial Review. An Internet check on this organization reveals no physical address. Only their editors and officers phone and Email addresses are revealed. For instance their editor is Mathew Davies with an phone number and Email in England. Nothing more about him is known.

The Deputy Editor is Stephen Lacey once again with an English phone number and Email. Nothing more is provided. Some of them have English phone numbers and Emails while others have Hong Kong contact numbers. Other than this nothing more is revealed.

In their "About" section, they praise themselves in glowing terms as a highly respected economics and business monitor for the Asian region. Other than themselves praising themselves there is nothing else. And then looking at their awards list you have the usual suspects, such as Morgan Stanley for Bank of the Year, and HSBC for the Bond House of the year, by the way the same HSBC that has confessed to money laundering and tax evasion and made to pay millions to the European Union only last week. Not much to speak of.

Well I suppose you get the picture as to what types of characters these International Financial Review are. They are probably paid handsomely by these equally fraudulent financial institutions for great profits for their investors to write glowing reports on their ranking. You know what I mean, you scratch my back and I scratch yours. Please see their website here http://www.ifre.com/. Looking at their faces they appear to be better located at the top security prison rather than be running around writing fake reports.

And it is this same nebulous organization that has declared Allen and Gledhill, a law firm that practices in the island of Singapore which is well known for not having any freedom of speech because you could be sued for defamation and bankrupted, no freedom of assembly or protest, no rule of law because of Kangaroo Courts and generally a very unsafe island to live in unless you are prepared to live like an obedient slave under the Lee's Peoples Action Party whose continued rule appears to be very much in doubt with the 91 year old dictator in hospital under life support.

Let me give you some facts here. In 2008 the International Bar Association in their 2008 report headed "Prosperity versus Individual Rights. Democracy Human Rights and Rule of Law in Singapore" had very little good to say about Singapore.

Briefly the report states the following, that they use criminal defamation laws to silence dissent which the IBA (International Bar Association ) recommends should be abolished.

A further point is the use of other laws such as the Miscellaneous Provisions Act to silence critics such as myself when I was jailed for 2 months in 2008 for criticizing a corrupt judge in this blog. The charge against me was in fact contempt of court.

But because they did not want to be internationally embarrassed by such an untenable charge against me, they disguised it by a charge under this Act which literally was that I insulted a civil servant. In my case I had only written a blog, therefore making the charge against me totally irrelevant.

A reading of the section would clearly show the total inapplicability in my case since this section only relates to cases where the defendant was actually physically in court and hurled abuses at the judge. See my earlier articles in this blog for 2008 on my case.

The IBA states that Singapore uses defamation laws to destroy political opposition by requiring that anyone fined $2,000.00, is an undischarged bankrupt or anyone imprisoned for 1 year is disqualified from contesting elections. With this law they can effectively keep any opposition politician out simply by using fake charges brought in their Kangaroo Courts and thereafter simply find them guilty and disqualify them.

The IBA found that these defamation laws effectively led to self censorship leaving most people unwilling to challenge Lee and his PAP for fear of defamation lawsuits. Of course there is Low Thia Khiang and his Workers party in the opposition but through his own admission, he is not opposed to Lee's PAP and his role is simply there as a check on their excesses; a unique opposition indeed.

The IBA also found that there is a total lack of freedom of the press. In fact Reporters Without Borders have ranked Singapore 150th among the list of countries on press freedom which today is actually below Somalia. In fact Somalia has more press freedom than Singapore! Check the ranking yourself.

And then they commented on the Singapore Legal profession among which is the subject of this award, Allen and Gledhill, the largest and most acclaimed, that is by Singapore authorities, law firm in the island.

The IBA found that the Law Society have allowed themselves to be muzzled and are unable to comment on legislation under the Legal profession Act. Can you imagine a Law Society of a country being forbidden to comment on laws!

In other words the Law Society has lost its balls and have completely succumbed to Lee Kuan Yew and Sons intimidation. Effectively they have voluntarily castrated themselves and can no longer defend their clients or protect their best interests, if their client happens to be a Lee critic.

Today if you are being sued or prosecuted by the government, except for one lawyer who is mentally deranged suffering permanently from severe bipolar disorder who is liable instantly without notice to dress himself in outlandish costumes and break into Indian classical dance without any provocation, you will not find any real lawyer to represent you.

Other than this lawyer who is sadly off his rocker, even if you did find one, he will very probably have to severely moderate himself lest he himself be prosecuted jailed and bankrupted by the Kangaroo Courts. By doing so effectively he will not be representing you but the government.

The IBA also found that although Lee's island stood high on business and anti corruption ranking, it stood very low on freedom of expression. I take issue with the finding that Singapore is not corrupt. It depends on how you define it. Lee his son and his entire extended family are in fact the most corrupt bunch of politicians in the world. This, a fact which is well known, is because they pay themselves no less than $3.7 million a year and an equally large amount each year as bonuses and kickbacks. They claim they are not corrupt because they have disclosed this fact as their salary. Simply calling it a salary does not make it any less corruption. This is simply legitimized corruption, which makes it much worse than the clandestine sort you see in Africa.

The IBA notes, no backbencher MP can ever question the PAP because if you are expelled from your party you automatically lose your parliamentary seat. This measure effectively prevents anyone from questioning them.

The World Conference on Human Rights of 1993 declared that democracy and freedom of speech and assembly is not just a Western concept but a universal concept that applies to every human being, even if you happen to be Asian. So far the Singapore government has been using the indefensible argument that freedom of speech etc are Western values and not Asian and therefore, as they are Asian, they are entitled to restrict your right to freedoms. A very convenient argument that dictators use to keep themselves in power to justify repressive measures against their own citizens. This has been roundly rejected not only by respected international bodies but also by any human being who has the slightest of grey matter in his head.

The IBA also pointed out that the Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA) rankings of 2005 placed the island of Singapore last for democracy and human rights, just one notch above Burma.

So who would you believe, the International Bar Association in their detailed 72 page report which describes Singapore island as nothing more than an intolerant dictatorship under father Lee Kuan Yew and his son by arguing that Western values are inapplicable to the island of Singapore or the likes of International Financial Review which awards the title of best bank to Morgan Stanley and the best Bond House to HSBC which has, by the way been convicted only last week for tax evasion by the European Union?

And coming to the glowing award to Allen and Gledhill. What sort of a law firm are they, very happy to practice in a jurisdiction, without the slightest of compunction, which has no rule of law, no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly or no freedoms whatsoever. It is a grave injustice to the word to call these characters lawyers. They are simply characterless, ideal-less, unprincipled bunch of imposters in black clothes, out to make a quick buck. I bet if Kim Jong An of North Korea paid them a few more bucks they would be happy to be members of the North Korean Bar and serve as Honorable Members of the Legal Profession of North Korea. Disgusting.

It is primarily because of lawyers such as these that Lee and Company dictatorship has managed to continue in power for the last 50 years or so in that tiny island. It is because they have no opposition. Not even from the lawyers.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Singapore economy has already begun to take a beating. The downward slide has begun obviously on news of Lee Kuan Yew, the personification of Singapore itself, struggling for dear life in a coma on life support in a hospital ward. By all reckoning, he will not recover.

He has been in that state since Feb 05, 2015 and since then this secretive government who decides what you should and should not know, has released to date only 3 reports of a couple of sentences, which has not said anything of substance.

Unfortunately for Singapore, despite all the miraculous achievements attributed to him, such as creating an Alice in Wonderland country replete with manicured laws, the death penalty and criminalized chewing gum, he obviously missed out the most important requirement; establishing the necessary institutions to ensure smooth transition of government after his demise. In other words democracy.

Instead he put his clueless son at the reigns for whom no one has any respect or any interest. Reading the state controlled press, he has resorted to writing messages and showing selfies on Facebook to try to endear himself to the ever increasing anger against him.

And all he is capable of doing is to sue you for defamation in Kangaroo courts if you disagree. Roy Ngerng, is the latest victim of his Kangaroo Courts for questioning his running the state retirement fund.

And everyone else who hangs around as ministers and government officials are mere scholars and toadies who do it for the millions they receive, instantly commissioned with powers to pontificate over their helpless subjects thanks to Kangaroo Courts and their Internal Security Department.

This is not the way to secure a stable and prosperous future for any country and as we all expected, when Lee Kuan Yew goes, there goes Singapore, because no one knows what is going to happen next.

Will the son deploy the police and army to keep order to silence the inevitable and unstoppable growing discontent? Will he prevent Singaporeans and foreigners taking their money and fleeing abroad? Will he prevent the citizens from cashing out their CPF (retirement ) funds and leaving?

Foreign companies have invested in Singapore because of its stability under a dictatorship; there is cheap helpless labor force without a voice and no minimum wage to boot and a Kangaroo Court system which will protect their interests against any locals daring to complain.

Now since it is pretty certain that Lee Kuan Yew, the main figure in the island is about to expire, they are not certain what will happen next. So they pull out their investments in quick order if they have not already done so. Once that happens everything else will collapse.

Because Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore like North Korea tightly controls the news, it is impossible to know the full extent of the drop in the Singapore economy consequent on Lee Kuan Yew's state of health since February 05, 2015 and the probability of his death any time now.

Perhaps property prices have dropped even further, perhaps citizens have already begun demanding their retirement funds now lest it becomes worthless, perhaps the banks are now seeing increasing withdrawals. And perhaps the Singapore dollar has fallen even further. And perhaps none of this is being reported because of the fear of creating a panic among their citizens.

If I had been now physically within Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore and had written this report, I would have been immediately arrested charged with sedition and treason and more. That is all a bully like Lee's son is capable of doing. But this article is being read in the island and they are entitled to read it if they want. What is more, it correctly describes the state of events now in Singapore with Lee fighting for his life as is the plight of dictatorships all over the world when dictators go.

Singapore has now entered the most interesting part of its history, no doubt about it. All is left is to watch the fireworks.

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About Me

Determined to find the Truth.
Born Singapore, educated Winstedt School 2 (next to Monks Hill in Newton, Singapore) Raffles Institution, National Service, some travel in Europe, then law studies England, return to Singapore, practiced for 10 years, active Workers Party member, stood elections 1988 and 1991 in Singapore, was harassed and persecuted by Lee Kuan Yew for my political beliefs, left for USA, obtained asylum and admitted California State Bar, practice law ever since in Fremont California near San Francisco. Relinquished Singapore citizenship 2005 because I was not prepared to permit Lee Kuan Yew to unjustly retain my CPF funds if I remained Singapore Citizen. On principle, the only correct thing for me to do was to give it up, for my CPF funds. I am an American Citizen as of 2004.